Bacchanal with a Wine Vat

Description

Andrea Mantegna was an artist with a deep interest in antiquity, and much of his work resembled Greco-Roman sculpture, which he translated into widely circulating and frequently copied engravings. This is the left half of a pair of prints; the adjoining print Bacchanal with Silenos (1956.1010) is also in the Art Institute’s collection. Mantegna’s frieze-shaped bacchanalian subjects portray the god of wine and his drunken revelers. Dionysos may be the standing youth on the left, who is being crowned with a wreath of grape leaves. His noble bearing and contrapposto stance link him particularly to ancient sculptures.

Bacchanal with a Wine Vat

Andrea Mantegna

c. 1470

Accession Number

4281

Medium

Engraving on cream laid paper

Dimensions

31.2 × 45 cm (12 5/16 × 17 3/4 in.)

Classification

engraving

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.